The music blog of The Kansas City Star.

November 29, 2012

Review: Megadeth

Knowing that a performance of a 20-year-old album would serve
as the centerpiece of Megadeth's concert Wednesday at the Midland, some fans of
the thrash band may have decided not to splurge on 40-dollar tickets. They could have blown the dust off one
of the over 2 million copies of "Countdown To Extinction" that have been sold
since 1992 and enjoyed an inexpensive and relatively tranquil evening at
home.

While entirely reasonable, selecting that option would have been
a mistake. Even though Megadeth's
85-minute appearance was disappointingly brief and free of surprises, the
band's sleek performance offered a wholly satisfying experience that couldn't
be replicated by a recording.

For starters, Megadeth concerts are loud. Very loud. Few home stereos provide the visceral impact of the
thunderous sound system employed by the quartet. The volume was rendered effective by an extraordinarily
clean mix. Every penetrating
shriek, jagged guitar riff, bone-rattling bass solo and powerful drum kick
could be felt as well as heard by each member of the audience of about 900.

Along with Anthrax, Metallica and Slayer, Megadeth is one of
thrash metal's so-called Big Four bands.
Dave Mustaine, Megadeth's creative force, founded the group in 1983
after he was unceremoniously ousted from Metallica. He's developed a reputation as a fractious band mate and as
a polarizing political commentator.
While he was gracious to both fans and his fellow musicians, Mustaine
engaged in a bit of contentious banter on Wednesday.

"How do you feel that we're having our country taken away
from us?" he said. "I
hate what's happening."

The audience's mixed reaction to the comments represented one of
the few contestable aspects of Megadeth's appearance. The band's synchronized playing on breakneck material was
impeccable. Aside from the
opportunity to watch Mustaine and second guitarist Chris Broderick trade
dazzlingly fleet-fingered solos, Megadeth lacks visual appeal. Three video screens provided a welcome
diversion. Each selection featured
complementary images. An
ostensible alien vivisection was displayed during the conspiracy-laden
"Hangar 18" while the metallic gallop of "High Speed Dirt"
was accompanied by footage of skydivers.

The energetic live version of "Countdown To Extinction" was stellar. Even lesser songs like "Captive
Honour" still contain plenty of brutal charm. Only Mustaine's voice seemed diminished. Once an insolent snarl, his singing now
resembles an angry croak.

Weak vocals also hampered opening act Kyng. Depending on one's tolerance for for throwback metal in the
vein of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, the music of Kyng is either tired or timeless. While King's 35-minute set was entirely
serviceable, Megadeth's performance was absolutely essential.

I thought KYNG was, actually pretty decent - as I also saw them six months ago open for DANZIG. As for MEGADETH, I had a pretty good time. My favored part of DAVE MUSTAINE and crew's set was the timeless last two songs performed - "Peace Sells" followed by "Holy Wars". Sometime, they need to go on tour and maybe perform 'Peace Sells ... But Who's Buying?' in it's entirety? Bubba said it.